Following up on November 2021's Tesla, A Love Story: "Tesla's hidden billionaire in Singapore" (TSLA) which mentioned his purchase of James Dyson's Singapore pad.*
From Bloomberg, December 3:
- ‘No longer all-in on Tesla,’ Leo KoGuan posted on X Saturday
- Tesla shares are bulk of retail holder’s $13.5 billion fortune
Leo KoGuan, one of Tesla Inc.’s largest individual shareholders, said he’s paring his stake in the automaker and putting some proceeds into government debt, fearing a selloff ahead.
“No longer all-in on Tesla,” the billionaire posted Saturday on X in response to a question whether he still holds the stock. “I am selling Tesla and accumulating 3-month Treasury Bills.”
[climateer here: bit of a change in the 'ol risk profile eh wut?]
....MOREHis reason for selling: to hedge his portfolio. “1929-type stock market crash is looming,” he wrote, making unspecified references to trillions of dollars worth of government debt and fiscal deficits.
KoGuan didn’t respond to requests for comment about the size and pace of his selling. But if true, it’s a big change for the man who emerged as a Tesla whale during the 2021 everything-rally and told Bloomberg News in interviews about his belief in Elon Musk and ambition to keep adding to his stake in the carmaker until he was worth at least $100 billion.
Tesla shares make up the bulk of KoGuan’s $13.5 billion fortune, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He held 27.7 million shares as of May, roughly 0.9% of the company, according to records reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Born in Indonesia, educated in New York and currently residing in Singapore, KoGuan made his initial fortune from SHI International Corp., a Somerset, New Jersey-based enterprise software company he ran with his ex-wife.
The 69-year-old has said he began buying Tesla in 2019 and quickly built a massive stake using stock options, doubling down again and again....
*We happened to catch Dyson's sale of the penthouse when Mr. D. re-re-domiciled to back to the U.K.:
Dyson Sells Singapore Penthouse For $46 Million (USD)
Well, not really happened to; it is one of the choicest shacks in one of the choicest locations in the world.
From the introduction to October 2018's "Dyson chooses Singapore for first electric car plant":
I like Singapore although it is a bit authoritarian.
The people are bright, usually the highest average I.Q. in the world, sometimes #2 to Hong Kong.
In the case of Singapore the I.Q. thing is especially interesting as their average is higher than that of any of the genetic pools the city-state draws from: the Chinese, Malay and Indian.
As a Malaysian Chinese businessman I know has told me, "We should never have let Singapore get away."
Another back-and-forth with Hong Kong is income/wealth. HK has more billionaires but Singapore has a higher average income.
And then there are the Gurkhas. More after the jump....
